Life Drawing 4th October 2012

Water soluble graphite on painted paper

Pretty much since I started running life drawing sessions (over a year ago now) I've been meaning to prepare papers ready for drawing on. When I was at college and university I rarely worked on plain paper, preferring to work on paper that I'd painted, collaged or printed. This week I finally got around to preparing some papers. I used white poster paint, newspaper, water colours and some bits of lace (pressed into the wet paint to add texture) to add some colour and texture to my papers.

Although far from happy with this drawing I like the prepared ground

I enjoyed working on these prepared grounds, it adds a different quality to the drawings and also I'm a bit more precious with paper I've already invested time in so I tend to work on my drawings a bit longer. I still produced lots of work but there are a couple of drawings where I've spent more time than I normally would and I think this has been a good thing, making me look closer at what I'm drawing and improving what I've already done rather than discarding it and moving onto the next one.

Working on the same piece of paper, over and over

I also experimented a bit more with how I draw as well as what I draw on. I used some water soluble graphite for the drawing at the top of this post and allowed the water to run down, echoing the background drips and adding interest to the surface of the drawing. I'm pleased with how this has turned out and think it has lots of potential to be developed further.

Two pens at once

Two pens at the same time

This was another experiment, which sent my eyes a bit crazy. I drew with two pens at once, giving two versions of the same drawing, slightly offset. It was difficult to look at whilst drawing as my brain couldn't decide whether to look at the blue or red line and the finished drawing has a similar, slightly disorientating effect.It looks a bit like one of those 3D pictures you need the special glasses for!

Some of my usual!

Focusing on one body part

And another

So, overall an interesting and productive session which has thrown up a few potential avenues of exploration for me. Watch this space!